I'm tired of listening to the endless caterwauling of the media and the Democrats about how Donald Trump has gotten nothing done in his two years in office. Just today, for instance, USA Today ran a column that claims that aside from the trade deal with Mexico and Canada which has yet to pass Congress, Trump has achieved nothing in foreign affairs. Huh? What world do they live in?
Here's a short and incomplete list of Trump's achievements overseas.
1. The ISIS caliphate is gone. These terrorists who Obama let take a huge swath of Iraq and Syria while he called them the not a threat and just the jayvee team of terrorists killed tens of thousands. Now their rule is over. There are still a few thousand loyalists who have gone underground, but they will die out. They will have no successes to point to for recruiting. ISIS has been defeated but not yet completely eradicated.
2. Trump got American hostages returned from North Korea and elsewhere and, unlike Obama, he didn't have to pay ransom to get our enemies to do this.
3. The US has a new trade agreement with South Korea.
4. The NATO countries have begun to honor their commitments to fund military/defense expenditures. This is a major change in direction. No longer do the US and to a lesser extent Britain defend a bunch of freeloaders.
5. America has pulled out of the Paris climate accords. It's funny because the only country in the world on track to actually meet the goals set by those accords is the USA. All the others signed but then did very little if anything to comply.
6. The terrible Iran deal that guaranteed the mullahs a path to nuclear weapons has been ended.
7. The US has decided to recognize the realities in the Arab-Israeli conflict rather than the fictions kept in place by past administrations. We moved our embassy to Jerusalem and accepted Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. After decades during which the "experts" warned that such moves would take the never-successful peace talks off track, Trump accepted reality and there were no bad consequences. There were, however, some rather good consequences, not the least of which is making clear to the Palestinians that they will have to deal with reality not a dream world if they are to achieve peace.
8. The US has sold defensive arms to Ukraine so that it can defend itself against Russian aggression. Under Obama, the US forgave Russia for its invasion of Georgia. Then we ignored the Russian takeover of Crimea. Then we ignored the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine. Trump said no more, and Russia has not taken any more territory.
9. The US pulled out of the Trans Pacific trade deal which would have led to a major loss of American jobs. Right now, we are negotiating trade deals with Japan and some of the other signers of the TPP.
10. The US has finally taken on misconduct by China with regard to trade and intellectual property. Obama simply adopted a policy of looking the other way, but Trump refused to let the Chinese take advantage of American workers.
There are many more items I could list, but these are all major accomplishments. The media/Dem propagandists may disagree with some of these moves; I understand that. The idea, however, that Trump has done nothing is laughable. He's accomplished more in two years than Obama did in 8.
Here's a short and incomplete list of Trump's achievements overseas.
1. The ISIS caliphate is gone. These terrorists who Obama let take a huge swath of Iraq and Syria while he called them the not a threat and just the jayvee team of terrorists killed tens of thousands. Now their rule is over. There are still a few thousand loyalists who have gone underground, but they will die out. They will have no successes to point to for recruiting. ISIS has been defeated but not yet completely eradicated.
2. Trump got American hostages returned from North Korea and elsewhere and, unlike Obama, he didn't have to pay ransom to get our enemies to do this.
3. The US has a new trade agreement with South Korea.
4. The NATO countries have begun to honor their commitments to fund military/defense expenditures. This is a major change in direction. No longer do the US and to a lesser extent Britain defend a bunch of freeloaders.
5. America has pulled out of the Paris climate accords. It's funny because the only country in the world on track to actually meet the goals set by those accords is the USA. All the others signed but then did very little if anything to comply.
6. The terrible Iran deal that guaranteed the mullahs a path to nuclear weapons has been ended.
7. The US has decided to recognize the realities in the Arab-Israeli conflict rather than the fictions kept in place by past administrations. We moved our embassy to Jerusalem and accepted Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. After decades during which the "experts" warned that such moves would take the never-successful peace talks off track, Trump accepted reality and there were no bad consequences. There were, however, some rather good consequences, not the least of which is making clear to the Palestinians that they will have to deal with reality not a dream world if they are to achieve peace.
8. The US has sold defensive arms to Ukraine so that it can defend itself against Russian aggression. Under Obama, the US forgave Russia for its invasion of Georgia. Then we ignored the Russian takeover of Crimea. Then we ignored the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine. Trump said no more, and Russia has not taken any more territory.
9. The US pulled out of the Trans Pacific trade deal which would have led to a major loss of American jobs. Right now, we are negotiating trade deals with Japan and some of the other signers of the TPP.
10. The US has finally taken on misconduct by China with regard to trade and intellectual property. Obama simply adopted a policy of looking the other way, but Trump refused to let the Chinese take advantage of American workers.
There are many more items I could list, but these are all major accomplishments. The media/Dem propagandists may disagree with some of these moves; I understand that. The idea, however, that Trump has done nothing is laughable. He's accomplished more in two years than Obama did in 8.
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